Tree Survey for Planning and Development

Godwins Tree Surveys provide you with an expert tree survey for planning applications. We offer an excellent level of service, professional advice and years of industry experience. Our complete tree survey for planning applications is typically commissioned by architects, planners, developers, property owners or anyone that requires a tree survey to validate a planning application.

If you are applying for planning permission, and trees are present a tree survey will generally be requested by the local planning authority. The reason for this is to assess whether construction activity is likely to have an unacceptable impact on nearby trees. The local planning authority will generally stipulate that for this a tree survey for planning purposes must be undertaken in accordance with the British Standard for tree surveys and development – BS5837:2012 Trees in relation to design, demolition and construction.

A Godwins tree survey and report to BS5837:2012 will assess tree quality and assign trees a retention category. Those trees of poor quality, such as those with serious structural defects or dead trees are recommended for removal. The remaining trees shall be assigned a retention category and considered for retention based on their quality. Each retained tree or group of trees will be plotted on a Tree Constraints Plan, showing Root Protection Areas.

Where the proposed layout of a site is known, the impact on retained trees can be assessed as part of an Arboricultural Impact Assessment. The Arboricultural Impact Assessment incorporates the tree survey information and the proposed layout details to identify which trees will be impacted upon.

A Tree Protection Plan must be drawn up showing how the retained trees will be protected throughout the construction phase. The position of protective fencing barriers will be shown on the Tree Protection Plan, together with the location of any ground protection measures. The Tree Protection Plan should form part of the Tree Protection Measures, which detail how the protective fencing should be constructed.

Further arboricultural information relating to tree surveys and tree protection measures can be found by following the links below.

Sometimes trees are protected by statutory controls such as Tree Preservation Orders or they are located within Conservation Areas. If your trees are protected by statutory controls, and you wish to develop the land adjacent, you will almost certainly require a tree survey. You can check if your trees are protected by visiting the link below:

About Godwins

Godwin’s Arboricultural Ltd offer an excellent level of service, expert arboricultural consultant advice and years of industry experience. We currently provide tree services to commercial companies, private individuals and the public sector on projects such as large-scale planning applications to the detailed assessment of individual trees.